Two remanded after van torched

By Athena Karsera

TWO MEN were remanded for five days yesterday in connection with an early morning arson attack on a Limassol businessman’s car.

Police in Limassol say that Panayiotis Georgiou Malialis, 20, has confessed to setting Leonidas Patriotis’ van alight, saying that he was drunk at the time.

Malialis also implicated another 20-year-old, Harry Roussis, as the person who supplied him with the flammable liquid used to set the vehicle on fire.

Malialis was caught red-handed when a police patrol saw him throwing a burning rag on to the van, which was parked in a field next to Patriotis’ workplace. Requesting the duo’s remand, the investigating officer told Limassol court that a search showed Malialis to be in the possession of a cigarette lighter and another rag covered in flammable liquid. The investigating officer also told the court that Malialis claimed to have no personal differences with Patriotis and that he had chosen the van at random. Damage estimated at £2,500 was caused to Patriotis’ van.

Meanwhile, unused changing rooms at Cyprus University were deliberately set alight on Saturday night. Police say the fire broke out at approximately 10pm at the campus in Lykavitos. The fire brigade put out the flames and police later found a cylinder, “probably containing gas,” which they believe was used by the arsonists at the scene of the crime. The cost of the damage is not yet known.

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